A Toast to the Season at Whitehall

The Flagler Museum closed the season with an intimate dinner for its closest supporters at Whitehall, marking the end of another ambitious run for one of Palm Beach’s most enduring cultural institutions.

The gathering brought over 100 dedicated members to the museum’s waterfront estate for cocktails on the south portico followed by dinner overlooking the Intracoastal. The celebration reflected the significant role the Flagler Museum continues to play in Palm Beach’s cultural life through exhibitions, scholarships, preservation, and public programming housed within one of the island’s defining landmarks.

Built in 1902 by Henry M. Flagler as a wedding gift for his wife Mary Lily Kenan Flagler, Whitehall remains one of the clearest links to the Gilded Age that shaped modern Palm Beach. What began as a private residence is now a National Historic Landmark and year-round museum dedicated to preserving both Flagler’s legacy and the broader history of the United States during that era.

“What has always sustained Whitehall’s legacy is stewardship,” said Kelly Hopkins, President of the Flagler Museum. “We are deeply grateful for the generosity and commitment that ensures its future.”

The festivities also offered a look ahead at the institution’s next chapter. Campbell Mobley, Chief Curator of the Flagler Museum, introduced Carol Woolton, the internationally recognized jewelry historian and guest curator behind the museum’s forthcoming 2027 exhibition, Gilded Age Jewelry: The Making of Modern Luxury. Described by the museum as its most ambitious exhibition to date, the show will bring together major loans, historical pieces, and new scholarship. 

“This season reflects what is possible when ambition is matched by support,” said Amanda Skier, Director and CEO of the Flagler Museum. “Because of this community, we have been able to strengthen our programs, deepen our scholarship, and refine the experience we offer to our audience.”

For an institution so closely tied to the history of Palm Beach, the evening also underscored how Whitehall continues to evolve. Today, the Flagler Museum stands not only as one of the island’s great historic monuments, but as an active cultural institution continuing to expand the scope of what it can represent and achieve, more than a century after Henry and Mary Lily Flagler first opened its doors.